The news that Daniel Sturridge would require a minimum of four months' year rest and recuperation following his recent hip surgery was the latest blow in a season in which Liverpool's substandard forward line have continued to provide disappointments.
Sturridge, who netted 21 goals in a deadly partnership alongside Luis Suarez last season, has started a mere seven games in the Premier League this season - but he is still the club's top-scoring forward.
A damning indictment, if you ever needed one, of how poor Liverpool's other natural strikers have performed this season. Rickie Lambert, brought in for £4 million last summer, Fabio Borini and Mario Balotelli - who also arrived less than a year ago, for a slightly higher fee of £16 million - have mustered a return of eight goals in all competitions, from a total of 77 combined appearances. In other words, an average of little over a goal every ten games between them.
In the Premier League, Liverpool have scored just 49 goals with three games to go. At the same stage last season, they had scored 96 - meaning a staggering drop of 47 goals in just 12 months. Furthermore, the Reds' top-scorer in the league is 20-year-old Raheem Sterling with seven, as the Merseyside club look set to end a campaign without at least one player in double figures for the first time in a decade.
The Reds have suffered desperately in-front of goal this season without their most prolific forward Sturridge, and their attacking woes are perhaps one of the defining reasons as to why they will not be playing Champions League football next season.
But with Sturridge set to be out until at least September, meaning he will miss the club's four opening games of the league season before he can even return to full-time training, and the rest of the Reds' forwards woefully underperforming - due to either an unsuitable fit or a simple lack of quality - what needs to be done to address the obvious issues?
It's fair to say that it would be a major surprise to see any one of Lambert, Borini and Balotelli still at the club come the end of this summer's transfer window.
The latter has scored some important late goals in a red shirt, but has never looked like fitting in to Rodgers' system - which suits an entirely different type of front-man. The Italian, never particularly renowned for pressing and work ethic, has been shoehorned into a lone-striker formation that he was never going to be suitable for at the best of times, so the discouraging results have not exactly shocked.
Suffering from a lack of support, Balotelli's goal haul has been unsurprisingly minimal and the increasing frequency of his absences in Rodgers' match-day squad suggests that he will move on after an uninspiring maiden year in a red shirt.
It is a shame that the 24-year-old has not worked out at Anfield, given his obvious abilities - but the £16-million man always looked like a desperate last-minute signing to appease supporters and avoid a repeat of the summer prior - after which Rodgers was left seriously short up top, with only Luis Suarez and newly-signed Borini as his recognised strikers going into the first-half of the season.
Borini has been little more than a peripheral figure on Merseyside ever since his £12 million arrival from AS Roma in the summer of 2012. Last summer, the Italian turned down an opportunity to make a permanent switch to Sunderland - where he had previously enjoyed a fruitious season-long loan spell, but he has again found playing-time restricted in a red shirt.
The young Italian has scored only one goal all season, albeit a well-timed run to stab in Jordan Henderson's delivery from close-range against Aston Villa back in January.
Of four of the other five starts Borini has made throughout the current campaign - two were in the Premier League, another was in the Capital One Cup win over Swansea City - in which he provided the assist for Balotelli's strike.
The other was in the Champions League, away against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu. In what was arguably Liverpool's highest-profile game of the season, Borini started up-front as Philippe Coutinho, Henderson, Gerrard, Raheem Sterling and Balotelli all watched on from the bench instead.
That if ever, was a demonstration of the inability of Liverpool's 2014 summer business to add extra quality to the ranks as the Reds went toe-to-toe with the best. In short, they failed to replace the threat of Suarez - and they have paid for it.
Now, after a forgettable campaign, Borini looks set to finally pull the plug on his stay at Liverpool - one which he desperately wanted to do so well in, but ultimately found himself short of the quality needed for a team towards the top of the table.
The final forward, Lambert, was brought more to ensure a Hollywood ending to an inspiring 'rags to riches' story, as opposed to being the figure able to provide the quality that Liverpool need in the final third without the Uruguayan.
The 33-year-old had definitely impressed in his two Premier League years with Southampton, but irregardless, he was never likely to become a regular first-choice striker at Liverpool given his lack of pace and agility.
Some of Lambert's best moments for the club came during a brief spell of games in which he netted away at Crystal Palace and even in Europe, at Ludogorets Razgrad. But the one moment that will be most memorable, should the no.9 end his Liverpool career without a goal at Anfield, will always be his strike away at Aston Villa - which sent the away end into absolute jubilation as supporters and players alike rejoiced at their return to form.
More recently, Lambert has become more of a human full-time whistle than anything else, with Rodgers usually opting to send him out in the final meaningful minutes of games that are already won or lost.
That said, Lambert - who turned down a deadline day move to Villa despite the promise of extra game time in the Midlands - was impressive at home to Queens Park Rangers recently, picking out Coutinho with a perfectly-weighted ball for the first goal and showing more endeavour and enthusiasm than others had done in previous appearances.
But even for all of his determination, Lambert too, is well short of the quality that Liverpool require to regularly challenge for the top-four. Make no mistake, the Reds could well have had a place in next season's Champions League already secured had they brought in such quality.
Rodgers' side have fallen short in a number of big games, particularly at home to Manchester United and away to Arsenal, but it has been their failure to put the ball in the back of the net against the lower sides - especially at home - which has resigned them to another stint in the dreaded Europa League.
Now, with Lambert and Borini set to drop down a level, possibly to a mid-table or relegation-threatened team and Balotelli likely to return to his homeland - Liverpool will be left with two senior strikers.
The eternally-injured Sturridge, whose unreliable fitness casts him off as a bit-part player for the meantime, and the incoming Divock Origi. The Belgian was bought from French side Lille last summer for a fee around the £10 million mark, but stayed on with the Ligue 1 club for a further 12 months to gain vital first-team experience.
It says a lot that Origi, who has been booed for large periods by Lille fans for his poor performances, still has more goals than any current Liverpool striker despite a period in which he went six months without a goal.
The 20-year-old is very highly-rated for his age, having made a huge impression for his country at the 2014 World Cup, but Liverpool fans will be unable to place too much pressure on such young shoulders - given that his goal return is at 16 in 86 appearances in France, so far.
Where does this leave Liverpool? Well, clearly there is the need not just for one, but two or more additions in the striking department. One of which, will need to be of top calibre. At least if Manchester United's quick return to Europe is anything to go by.
And a proven forward is certainly what Brendan Rodgers has hinted at looking for after a 0-0 draw away at West Brom last month. The Northern Irishman has his sights set on acquiring a forward who will be available week-in, week-out and who can also help provide the goals that could prove the difference between elite European football or an unwanted Europa League spot.
But who should Liverpool be looking at?
Their 2014-15 season has demonstrated a clear need for not only a forward who has a good eye for goal, but one that is blessed with pace and provides movement - not one that lacks in mobility and work ethic.
That has been clearly shown when some of the Reds' best performances in the final third have come with Sterling as the man leading the line. His blistering acceleration off the mark and his movement, work off the ball and even his creativity, was a huge factor in Liverpool's 2-1 win over Manchester City - where with Sterling supported by Adam Lallana and Coutinho, the Reds produced perhaps their most convincing victory of the season. At least their most convincing attacking performance without Sturridge.
There will undoubtedly be a long list of names drawn up in Rodgers' office at Melwood as the Reds look to solve their lack of goals, but Memphis Depay is one name that will already have been crossed off the list of potential forward signings, having revealed that he will be joining Manchester United earlier this week.
Whilst Rodgers has since come out to insist that Liverpool were never in the running for the exciting Dutch star, others have indicated that Merseyside club were certainly interested in the PSV prospect, who has been tipped to make a big impact at the Red Devils next year.
With Depay - who was said to be more interested in regular first-team football than playing in the Champions League, out of the question, Liverpool may find their ability to attract other potential options hindered by their failure to finish in the top-four.
Missing out on the £40 million cash windfall just for qualifying, as well as lacking the enticing opportunity of offering signings the chance to play against the world's best - Liverpool's restricted transfer strategy, in which they only pay their valuation - in the form of transfer fees and wages - for a player, means that Rodgers will find it difficult to bring in the sort of top-class names that Liverpool are so desperate for.
The likes of Alexandre Lacazette, Paulo Dybala, Luciano Vietto and even Mauro Icardi, all of whom could be potential targets - could find other clubs more attractive due to such reasons as the offer of Champions League football, and even more money.
But one player who looks almost certain to make the switch to Liverpool is Burnley's Danny Ings. The 21-year-old has been heavily linked to leaving the Clarets, with his contract running out this summer, and bar any complications - Merseyside looks like his next destination.
The Reds would have to pay a compensation fee for Ings, though he is out of contract - which would be decided by an independent tribunal and is likely to be something between £3-5 million.
In terms of the quality he can bring, Ings lit up the Championship alongside Sam Vokes last season for Burnley, scoring 21 goals, whilst he has added a further nine in the top-flight since Sean Dyche's side won promotion.
But another forward at such a tender age, and having only been at Burnley and Bournemouth in his career - whether Ings can make the step-up, or whether he falls by the wayside like so many have done before him, will remain a genuine fear until the young striker spends a few months at his new club.
Ings' likely arrival would leave Liverpool with three main strikers, two of which will still only at the start of their careers come the start of next season - whilst the other, Sturridge, has had incredible difficulty maintaining his fitness and therefore, his availability for the club.
Still then, there is a need for the Reds to identify a top-level striker and ensure whoever it is can bring the club what they need after they clear out the deadwood.
It's a testing time for Liverpool supporters, who are all clamouring for that marquee signing they have wanted for so long.
It is obvious to all - including Brendan Rodgers - that they need the boost of a top-level signing in the forward department this summer, but whether that is actually what they get could be a completely different story indeed.